I detected the memory of her voice as it alit and perched
My body cradled my thoughts
The telegraph wires were speeding away
The thud of a thrown stone struck noon
translated by Michael Benedikt
Month: February 2015
here on the shore of the world: with a nod to Li Shang-yin
here I stand
on the shore
of the world
settling
yes, settling
into the view
while an owl
somewhere behind me
perpetually asks
the question
I myself
long to answer
here
on the shore
of the world
Horizon by Philippe Soupault
The whole town has come into my room
the trees have disappeared
and evening clings to my fingers
The houses are turning into ocean liners
the sound of the sea has just reached me up here
In two days we’ll arrive in the Congo
I’ve passed the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn
I know there are innumerable hills
Notre-Dame hides the Gaurisankar and the northern lights
night falls drop by drop
I await the hours
Give me that lemonade and the last cigarette
I’m going back to Paris
translated by Rosmarie Waldrop
Song V by Tristan Tzara
if words were nothing but signs
postage stamps for all things
what would be the outcome of everything
dust
empty gestures
time wasted
neither agony nor joy would remain
in that odd world
translated by Michael Benedikt
Way by Tristan Tzara
What is this road that separates us
across which I hold out the hand of my thoughts
a flower is written out at the very tip of each finger
and the very end of the road is a flower which walks along with you
translated by Michael Benedikt
Black Joy by Jean Arp
flowers are blackened with joy
the sky is beautiful as flame
i’m transported by just one day’s worth of flower-labor
how would you like to fly away with me
how would you like a day’s worth of lightning-flashes
how would you like a flower identical with heaven
how would you like several flowers like lightning-flashes
how would you like a fiery sky
hovering just beyond my head
is you my lovely flower-labor
hovering just beyond my head
is you my lovely black flame of joy
translated by Michael Benedikt
Remembering Peach Blossoms by Li Shang-yin
Settled, settled: I dwell on the shore of the world.
Longingly, longingly, I gaze toward the view.
The winter plum is most hateful,
For it always blossoms with last year’s flowers.
translated by James J.Y. Liu
talking with Ali 2: from the Qur’an: In The Name Of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser Of Grace
Have we not opened up thy heart,
and lifted from thee the burden
that had weighed so heavily on thy back?
And (have we not) raised thee high in dignity?
And, behold, with every hardship comes ease:
verily, with every hardship comes ease!
Hence, when thou art freed (from distress), remain steadfast,
and unto the Sustainer turn with love.
talking with Ali
sometimes
you just have to
sit back
and let it
go
Rhyming with Tzu-yu’s “At Mien-ch’ih, Recalling the Past” by Su Tung-p’o
Wanderings of a lifetime–what do they resemble?
A winging swan that touches down on snow-soaked mud.
In the mud by chance he leaves the print of his webs,
but the swan flies away, who knows to east or west?
The old monk is dead now, become a new memorial tower;
on the crumbling wall, impossible to find our old inscriptions.
Do you recall that day, steep winding slopes,
road long, all of us tired, our lame donkeys braying?
translated by Burton Watson
Leonard Durso 